Study Finds Nearly 10% of Students Surveyed in School District Identify as Gender Diverse

A study of a mid-sized school district in the Northeast found that 9.2% of students surveyed reported being gender diverse. The study, “Prevalence of Gender Diverse Youth in an Urban School District,” which will be published in the June 2021 issue of Pediatrics (published online May 18), asked students at 13 high schools a two-part gender identity question, and of the 3,168 surveys analyzed, incongruence between gender identity and sex assigned at birth was identified in 291 participants. This prevalence was 7.1% among white youth and was higher among American Indian/Alaskan Native/Asian/Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, Hispanic, Black, and mixed-race youth. Much of the previous research involving gender diverse youth has been conducted in clinical settings, where there is a predominance of white and masculine-identified youth, the study notes. Gender diverse youth of color, specifically Black and Latinx transgender women, are more likely than other gender diverse people to experience violence and socioeconomic disadvantage due to systemic racism and transmisogyny. The findings underscore the need to re-evaluate systems and structures that continue to perpetuate inequities in access to gender-affirming care, the authors conclude.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.